LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A 23-year-old contestant from Brooklyn, N.Y., won the title of Miss America in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Mallory Hagan won the beauty pageant after tap dancing to James Brown's "Get Up Off of That Thing" and answering a question about whether armed guards belong in grade schools by saying we should not fight violence with violence.

Hagan wins a $50,000 college scholarship and gets the crown for one year. Her platform was stopping child sexual abuse.

Beauty contest winners from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands took the stage to vie for the title Saturday night at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

The competition is the culmination of a week of preliminary competitions and months of preparations.

Miss District of Columbia Allyn Rose, who made headlines by announcing plans to undergo a preventive double mastectomy after the competition to reduce her risk of breast cancer, was eliminated.

Hagan, a graduate of Opelika High School, studied at Auburn University before moving to New York in 2008.

Hagan has also competed in the Alabama pageant circuit before relocating, winning talent awards and becoming a runner-up with the Miss Alabama’s Outstanding Teen & Miss Alabama Scholarship Competitions.

Among the preliminary winners were Miss Maryland and Miss Oklahoma. Miss Alabama won the $6,000 Quality of Life Scholarship for her commitment to community service.

Miss Alabama Anna Laura Bryan made it to the top 15 and showed off her swimsuit and evening gown, but was cut before the talent competition.